Editing Binding problem (section)

== General considerations on coordination ==
===Summary of problem ===
Attention is crucial in determining which phenomena appear to be bound together, noticed, and remembered.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Vroomen|first1=Jean|last2=Keetels|first2=Mirjam|date=May 2010|title=Perception of intersensory synchrony: A tutorial review|journal=Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics|language=en|volume=72|issue=4|pages=871–884|doi=10.3758/APP.72.4.871|pmid=20436185|s2cid=25225310|issn=1943-3921|doi-access=free}}</ref> This specific binding problem is generally referred to as temporal synchrony. At the most basic level, all neural firing and its adaptation depends on specific consideration to timing (Feldman, 2010). At a much larger level, frequent patterns in large scale neural activity are a major diagnostic and scientific tool.<ref>The Neural Binding Problem(s) Jerome Feldman ... – Icsi.berkeley.edu. https://www.icsi.berkeley.edu/pubs/ai/ICSI_NBPs12.pdf.</ref>

=== Synchronization theory and research ===
A popular hypothesis mentioned by neuroscientist Prof [[Peter Milner]], in his 1974 article ''A Model for Visual Shape Recognition'', has been that features of individual objects are bound/segregated via [[Neural oscillation|synchronization]] of the activity of different neurons in the cortex.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Milner|first=Peter M.|date=1974|title=A model for visual shape recognition.|url=http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/h0037149|journal=Psychological Review|language=en|volume=81|issue=6|pages=521–535|doi=10.1037/h0037149|pmid=4445414|issn=1939-1471|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=":3">Shadlen MN, Movshon JA (September 1999). [https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(00)80822-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627300808223%3Fshowall%3Dtrue "Synchrony unbound: a critical evaluation of the temporal binding hypothesis"]. ''Neuron''. '''24''' (1): 67–77, 111–25. [https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(00)80822-3?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627300808223%3Fshowall%3Dtrue doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(00)80822-3]. [[PMID (identifier)|PMID]] 10677027.</ref> The theory, called binding-by-synchrony (BBS), is hypothesized to occur through the transient mutual synchronization of neurons located in different regions of the brain when the stimulus is presented.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Romera|first1=Miguel|last2=Talatchian|first2=Philippe|last3=Tsunegi|first3=Sumito|last4=Yakushiji|first4=Kay|last5=Fukushima|first5=Akio|last6=Kubota|first6=Hitoshi|last7=Yuasa|first7=Shinji|last8=Cros|first8=Vincent|last9=Bortolotti|first9=Paolo|last10=Ernoult|first10=Maxence|last11=Querlioz|first11=Damien|date=2022-02-15|title=Binding events through the mutual synchronization of spintronic nano-neurons|journal=Nature Communications|language=en|volume=13|issue=1|pages=883|doi=10.1038/s41467-022-28159-1|pmid=35169115|pmc=8847428|bibcode=2022NatCo..13..883R|issn=2041-1723}}</ref> Empirical testing of the idea was brought to light when von der Malsburg proposed that feature binding posed a special problem that could not be covered simply by cellular firing rates.<ref>von der Malsburg, C. (1981). [https://web-archive.southampton.ac.uk/cogprints.org/1380/1/vdM_correlation.pdf "The Correlation Theory of Brain Function".] MPI Biophysical Chemistry, Internal Report 81–2. Reprinted in Models of Neural Networks II (1994), E. Domany, J.L. van Hemmen, and K. Schulten, eds. (Berlin: Springer).</ref> However, it has been shown this theory may not be a problem since it was revealed that the modules code jointly for multiple features, countering the feature-binding issue.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Di Lollo|first=Vincent|date=2012-06-01|title=The feature-binding problem is an ill-posed problem|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661312000988|journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences|language=en|volume=16|issue=6|pages=317–321|doi=10.1016/j.tics.2012.04.007|pmid=22595013|issn=1364-6613|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Temporal synchrony has been shown to be the most prevalent when regarding the first problem, "General Considerations on Coordination," because it is an effective method to take in surroundings and is good for grouping and segmentation. A number of studies suggested that there is indeed a relationship between rhythmic synchronous firing and feature binding. This rhythmic firing appears to be linked to intrinsic oscillations in neuronal somatic potentials, typically in the [[Gamma wave|gamma range]] around 40 – 60 hertz.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Engel|first1=Andreas K.|last2=Konig|first2=Peter|last3=Gray|first3=Charles M.|last4=Singer|first4=Wolf|date=July 1990|title=Stimulus-Dependent Neuronal Oscillations in Cat Visual Cortex: Inter-Columnar Interaction as Determined by Cross-Correlation Analysis|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-9568.1990.tb00449.x|journal=European Journal of Neuroscience|language=en|volume=2|issue=7|pages=588–606|doi=10.1111/j.1460-9568.1990.tb00449.x|pmid=12106294|s2cid=26077574|issn=0953-816X|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The positive arguments for a role for rhythmic synchrony in resolving the segregational object-feature binding problem have been summarized by Neurophysiologist Prof [[Wolf Singer|Singer]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Singer|first=Wolf|date=2007-12-10|title=Binding by synchrony|journal=Scholarpedia|language=en|volume=2|issue=12|pages=1657|doi=10.4249/scholarpedia.1657|bibcode=2007SchpJ...2.1657S|issn=1941-6016|doi-access=free}}</ref> There is certainly extensive evidence for synchronization of neural firing as part of responses to visual stimuli.

However, there is inconsistency between findings from different laboratories. Moreover, a number of recent reviewers, including neuroscientists Prof [[Michael Shadlen|Shadlen]] and Prof [[J. Anthony Movshon|Movshon]]<ref name=":3" /> and Prof [[Bjorn Merker|Merker]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Merker|first=Bjorn|date=2013-03-01|title=Cortical gamma oscillations: the functional key is activation, not cognition|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763413000146|journal=Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews|language=en|volume=37|issue=3|pages=401–417|doi=10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.013|pmid=23333264|s2cid=12661951|issn=0149-7634|url-access=subscription}}</ref> have raised concerns about the theory being potentially untenable. Neuroscientists Prof Thiele and Prof Stoner found that perceptual binding of two moving patterns had no effect on synchronization of the neurons responding to two patterns: coherent and noncoherent plaids.<ref>Thiele A, Stoner G (2003). "Neuronal synchrony does not correlate with motion coherence in cortical area MT". ''Nature'', 421, 366–370.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dong|first1=Yi|last2=Mihalas|first2=Stefan|last3=Qiu|first3=Fangtu|last4=Heydt|first4=Rüdiger von der|last5=Niebur|first5=Ernst|date=2008-05-03|title=Synchrony and the binding problem in macaque visual cortex|url=https://jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx?articleid=2193657|journal=Journal of Vision|language=en|volume=8|issue=7|pages=30.1–16|doi=10.1167/8.7.30|pmid=19146262|pmc=2647779|issn=1534-7362}}</ref> In the primary visual cortex, Dong et al. found that whether two neurons were responding to contours of the same shape or different shapes had no effect on neural synchrony since synchrony is independent of binding condition.

Shadlen and Movshon<ref name=":3" /> raise a series of doubts about both the theoretical and the empirical basis for the idea of segregational binding by temporal synchrony. There is no biophysical evidence that cortical neurons are selective to synchronous input at this point of precision, and cortical activity with synchrony this precise is rare. Synchronization is also connected to endorphin activity. It has been shown that precise spike timing may not be necessary to illustrate a mechanism for visual binding and is only prevalent in modeling certain neuronal interactions. In contrast, [[Anil Seth]]<ref name="Seth 2004">{{cite journal|last1=Seth|first1=A. K.|year=2004|title=Visual Binding Through Reentrant Connectivity and Dynamic Synchronization in a Brain-based Device|journal=Cerebral Cortex|volume=14|issue=11|pages=1185–1199|doi=10.1093/cercor/bhh079|pmid=15142952|doi-access=free}}</ref> describes an artificial brain-based robot that demonstrates multiple, separate, widely distributed neural circuits, firing at different phases, showing that regular brain oscillations at specific frequencies are essential to the neural mechanisms of binding.

Cognitive psychologists Prof Goldfarb and Prof [[Anne Treisman|Treisman]]<ref>Goldfarb, L.; Treisman, A. (Mar 2013). [[doi:10.1177/0956797612459761|"Counting multidimensional objects: implications for the neural-synchrony theory]]". ''Psychological Science''. '''24''' (3): 266–71. [[doi:10.1177/0956797612459761]]. [[PMID (identifier)|PMID]] 23334446. [[S2CID (identifier)|S2CID]] 13448695.</ref> point out that a logical problem appears to arise for binding solely via synchrony if there are several objects that share some of their features and not others. At best synchrony can facilitate segregation supported by other means (as physicist and neuroscientist Prof [[Christoph von der Malsburg|von der Malsburg]] acknowledges).<ref>von der Malsburg, C. (Sep 1999). [https://web-archive.southampton.ac.uk/cogprints.org/1488/5/cvdm.pdf "The what and why of binding: the modeler's perspective"] (PDF). ''Neuron''. '''24''' (1): 95–104, 111–25. [https://web-archive.southampton.ac.uk/cogprints.org/1488/5/cvdm.pdf doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(00)80825-9]. [[PMID (identifier)|PMID]] 10677030</ref>

A number of neuropsychological studies suggest that the association of color, shape and movement as "features of an object" is not simply a matter of linking or "binding", but shown to be inefficient to not bind elements into groups when considering association,<ref>von der Malsburg, Christoph. "The What and Why of Binding: The Modeler's Perspective." Cogprints, 1 September 1999, https://web-archive.southampton.ac.uk/cogprints.org/1488/.</ref> and give extensive evidence for top-down feedback signals that ensure that sensory data are handled as features of (sometimes wrongly) postulated objects early in processing. Pylyshyn<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pylyshyn|first=Zenon W|date=2001-06-01|title=Visual indexes, preconceptual objects, and situated vision|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010027700001566|journal=Cognition|series=Objects and Attention|language=en|volume=80|issue=1|pages=127–158|doi=10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00156-6|pmid=11245842|s2cid=15474365|issn=0010-0277|url-access=subscription}}</ref> has also emphasized the way the brain seems to pre-conceive objects from which features are to be allocated to which are attributed continuing existence even if features such as color change. This is because visual integration increases over time, and indexing visual objects helps to ground visual concepts.